Moderator of General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana Rt. Rev. Dr. Lt. Col. B.D.K. Agbeko, has urged churches and their leaders to prioritise behaviours that will ensure a green and healthy environment.
Climate change is a major menace affecting the world, and according to the United Nations (UN) "since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change".
Delivering a sermon on Sunday, January 8, 2023, at Dzolo-Gbogame E.P. Church, Sitsofe Congregation in the Ho West District of the Volta region, Rev. Agbeko said "one of the missions and the calling God is laying on us is that we must help take care of our environment."
He urged Churches to "plant trees, safe the environment, the climactic change is affecting the world negatively and so in your area, protect the environment"
"Help keep a clean environment, help make the green environment, make lives better because God put us here to choose the earth and take care of it, is the mission of God, we're part of the earth, to keep it good, clean, healthy environment, (then) you're also nursing the future generations that will be good and healthy," he added.
In his sermon, the Moderator also urged church leaders to invest offerings in profit-making ventures and use the funds to better the lives of their congregations. He then condemned religious leaders who amass wealth for themselves at the expense of their followers and said God is not pleased with such acts.
Prior to the sermon, he dedicated a 1,000-seat chapel to the local church. Construction of the chapel began in 2001, and it took the church over two decades to complete it.
The Sitsofe Congregation was established in April 1911 and is one of the oldest orthodox churches in the Volta and Oti regions.